Explore theme discussion

Started by winkio, March 05, 2011, 12:42:05 am

Previous topic - Next topic

winkio

So exploration is a pretty good theme to incorporate, as it allows us to make use of different environments on the quest to find titanium.

Possibilities:
some method of transport?  Ship, plane, dragon, something magical?

Navigation chart?  Something like an in-game map that gets revealed as you explore new places - could be integrated with quest journal.  Or maybe you have to buy maps.

Is exploration a linear progression, or are there sometimes choices / alternate routes?

AliveDrive

I think we don't necessarily need a mode of transport.

If we have say:

Town A []___
                  \____[] Town B

And the player presses right, we could have the character automagically walk there, or snap to the location on the world map.

I think the player should have freedom to revisit any previously explored locations, provided the story allows for that.

I think progression could be established in a mixture of two ways:

Town A []___+_____+
                    \+____\_[] Town B

Have certain crossroads at points in the map and put "roadblocks" on them.

Have enemies or temp battles in these transitional areas, the player must clear one of two paths to reach town B. Once Town B is reached, all other "roadblocks" are cleared for that area. Or, simply use the former method described above, without crossroads, and in some instances maybe without roadblocks as well.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

So something like an overworld/level selector?  That might actually work well.

AliveDrive

I would be down to crank out a prototype if you'd like to see what I mean in action.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio


AliveDrive

March 06, 2011, 01:36:11 pm #5 Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 02:43:13 pm by winkio
My inspiration is that of SMRPG's world map (what can I say, it's my favorite game, it inspires me).  :D

So if you've played that then you'll know.

I'm sure there's other games that use that style I just can't think of any right now.

EDIT:

Like this.
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

Yeah, I actually think that could look good with some animation in between.  It would work well for alternate routes too.

WhiteRose

I'm WhiteRose, and I approve of this message.

(I like the idea; let's do it. I look forward to seeing your prototype.)

winkio

So, looking over at the world map, it looks like we are going to have somewhere around 20 main zones.  Do we want to split these zones up into having multiple subzones (perhaps with a zoomed in map) or just keep them as they are?  If we go for subzones, We should probably only plan for a 3-5 per zone, because we don't want to get in over our heads.

WhiteRose

Quote from: winkio on March 07, 2011, 09:55:37 pm
So, looking over at the world map, it looks like we are going to have somewhere around 20 main zones.  Do we want to split these zones up into having multiple subzones (perhaps with a zoomed in map) or just keep them as they are?  If we go for subzones, We should probably only plan for a 3-5 per zone, because we don't want to get in over our heads.


20 zones with subzones would probably be overkill; the subzones would end up being really small. I think we should just have each zone be an area.

winkio

Also, keep in mind that even if we don't split into subzones on the map screen, we can still build alternate routes and incentives for exploring into the zone maps themselves.

Hatsamu

I'd keep the zones as they are (no sub-zones) and just add alternate routes/secret passages into them.


Btw, I like the SMRPG style; I just love that game too as it was the one that made me love RPG's *-*

AliveDrive

We could have the world map be zoomed in on each region for clarity.

So how many maps per zone are we thinking?

'Cause at 5 maps per zone, we're looking at 100 maps, not including subzones.

[/2cents]
Quote from: Blizzard on September 09, 2011, 02:26:33 am
The permanent solution for your problem would be to stop hanging out with stupid people.

winkio

We should end up with more than 100 maps, between all the indoors/outdoors sections and everything else.  I wouldn't worry about it too much, since each zone will be a continuous area, the number of individual maps don't really matter.  Also, we decided against subzones.